Meditating to Relieve Stressful Thoughts and Ease the Body

by Alesha Wilson
(Wilmington, NC)

I just started meditating recently and found the benefits in terms of relaxing my mind and freeing a lot of space that stressful thoughts are taking up. My friend suggested I take this practice as a stress-reliever, especially when my mood is rotten and my mind automatically reverts to its usual negative state.

Where does all the stress come from? I live a normal life. I go to work normally and deal with all the things I’ve been dealing with every day for the past decade. But work is not the cause of the mental stress. In fact, I’ve been able to tune out a lot of the turmoil inside my head when I go to work and do everything like a robot. It’s the time of relaxation that really bothers me, and much as I don’t want to work anymore during the weekend, it used to be the only way to tune out the negative thoughts. Needless to say, I’ve turned into a workaholic.

The stress comes from being too cooped up after a particularly harrowing emotional phase. I’ve separated from my partner, and while the decision was mutual, some remnants of the ill feelings I felt during that time remain. My mistake, which I did not recognize as a mistake at that time, was not confiding my emotions to a friend. I’m one of those people who simply bottle things up until they spill over. Not good. Spilling over means losing my temper, turning to work for solace, and finding it difficult to sleep even when I have to.

I started working on my self-esteem, which is a good thing, I know. But I did not expect things to go a bit more messed up than they already are when I started dieting. Lacking direction and nutrition in my body along with sleeplessness only made the ill thoughts fester. I felt worse, and I was starving most of the time.

When I started meditating, I felt rather silly. I knew no one could see me where I was doing it, but it still felt like a silly thing to do. It was through the guidance of an online resource that I was able to relax enough and do it properly. It became my pet project to do it properly. And, I’m happy to say I finally got the hang of it after a few tries.

Using imagery to meditate helped me a lot. I imagined a bright light coming from above, forming a circle around me. Inside that circle I can be safe, and no ill thoughts entered my brain. I was able to fill myself with positive energy. I only meditated for a few minutes, but I vowed to try longer next time. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I slept through the night and woke up well-rested.

Meditating also positively reinforced my will to start dieting properly. It seemed like my brain was free of all the cobwebs and I could think of a feasible plan to do things again, no matter what they are. I started poring through books on nutrition and food recipes for dieting. I started contemplating the effects of different supplements, and which ones I really need. All the healthy planning and the positive thinking gave me hope, like I was given another chance by a higher power to fix my life. I credit meditation practice for bringing me renewed energy and releasing me from stress.

Alesha Wilson is a staff writer at Rockwell Nutrition